


Special

by whattheheckdidyoudo



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Angst, Best Friends, Childhood Friends, Choose Your Own Adventure, Choose Your Own Ending, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-26 10:44:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14400489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whattheheckdidyoudo/pseuds/whattheheckdidyoudo
Summary: Yosuke has a big, stupid crush on his childhood friend Yu.(Choose your own adventure style. Two possible endings: Bad End and Good End.)





	1. Normal Route

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place in an AU where Yu and Yosuke have been living in Inaba for a long time and are childhood friends. Also, the murders in Inaba are absent in this story.
> 
> Chapter 2 and 3 of this story are the Bad End and Good End. You could read just one or both.

Yu had always just been there. 

Even when Yosuke was a little kid with an awful bowl cut, throwing rocks at stop signs, hoping to dent them, Yu would just walk up and toss a stone or two before watching Yosuke continue to angrily chuck. Yosuke even remembered when Yu's hair in middle school was far past his ears and curtained over his eyes, only because Dojima never had the time to get it cut. That night, during a sleepover, they spent hours in that bathroom trying to get the hair just how Yu asked his barber to cut it. Yosuke wasn't satisfied until every hair on Yu's head was how he liked it. 

Yu had been living with his uncle since he was eleven, so he had been around for his aunt's death, and the boys had a lot of sleepovers at Yosuke's during that time. 

Through all those hard times, Yosuke had been there. And through all of Yosuke's times of deep self-doubt, Yu had been there. They had always been around each other. 

That wasn't to say that they were each other's only friends. They spent time at school with Chie and Yukiko. They'd all try and play with Nanako as much as they could. They were all good friends, but Yu and Yosuke were a little closer than the rest. 

And since Yu had always been there, Yosuke didn't know he could even be jealous until they started drifting. Yosuke never thought of himself as a jealous guy. He never got upset when Yu hung out with one of the girls, or another friend from school. Yu was a popular guy after all, and there was no denying that he had other friends to spend time with besides Yosuke. 

But then Rise moved into town. 

Now, Yosuke loved Rise. He thought she was a nice girl, an amazing singer, and a good friend. He had no problem with her being added to the friend group. Why would he have a problem? Kanji had recently joined the gang, and everything with him had been fine. 

Rise had a big fat crush on Yu though, and there lie the problem. When she wasn't swooning over Yu, she was practically attached to him, always a hand on the arm or around the waist. Yosuke couldn't blame the girl for liking Yu. He was kind, handsome, talented, and he looked amazing shirtle- 

Yosuke frequently had to shake the thought of the time he saw Yu shirtless at the beach. He reminds himself that he's just impressed by Yu's arms and chest as a bro thing, not a gay thing. 

So, yeah, of course Rise would love the guy. So, why did Yosuke feel a bit of nervousness bubble up inside of him every time she beamed up at him? 

Then, Yu told him something that cemented all of Yosuke's mixed feelings as jealousy. Yu told him that he was interested in Rise in the same way that she was interested in him. Chances were, they would start dating soon. 

Suddenly, it all became too real. Yosuke didn't realize that he liked Yu until Yu definitely liked someone else. How should you react to that? Where do you go from there? Yosuke had no idea. 

'What should I wear to the date?' Yu had texted Yosuke before he and Rise's first date out to the park. 

'dunno man. im not a chick.' Yosuke texted back curtly. 

"Are you upset with me?" Yu texted. 

Yosuke wanted so badly to be moody and ignore him, but he quickly realized that Yu had done nothing to deserve his angst. 

'sorry didn't sleep very well last night' Yosuke made up an excuse. 

'I decided to go for my yellow button-up. Also, tell me if you need anything.' Yu texted back in his perfect sentences. Who texts like that? 

'yeah I will' Yosuke responded. Why was he being so moody? He could tell Yu anything, and he knew it. Well, maybe he couldn’t tell Yu about this. 

Throughout the afternoon, Yu would excitedly text him updates. 'She held my hand!' followed by 'She's so pretty!', and it was kinda cute to witness how excited Yu was. In fact, Yosuke couldn't think of a particular time he had seen Yu so star-struck, and after a moment of thinking about that, Yosuke felt his heart wither. 

Yu had never been this excited about him. That shouldn't have hurt. They'd been friends forever, so it wasn't like there ever was the excitement of a new companion there like there was with Rise. It shouldn't hurt, but logic and emotion didn’t always mix in Yosuke's brain the way it should've. His brain was saying that Yu's excitement made sense, but his emotions were saying that Yu would never like him as much as he liked Rise. 

So, Yosuke decided to curl up on his futon and try to sleep. He thought of all the Valentine's Days that the two had spent without girlfriends, and how they would buy each other chocolates as a joke. They would sit around at Yu's house if Yosuke could get the day off from Junes and talk about how much girls sucked. Old Yosuke would've blamed it on feeling lonely, but now, Yosuke thought he knew the real reason. Maybe, somewhere deep down, he didn't care as much about girls as he thought he did. 

Eventually, Yosuke was able to fall asleep. 

Yosuke sat on a bench overlooking the town. Yu was right next to him. Yosuke felt his mouth open to speak. 

"You're special to me, you know?" 

Yu just smiled as if he had expected Yosuke's words. 

"You're special to me too." 

Yosuke wished this dream was based on a memory, but that wasn't the case. No, he and Yu never really had tender moments like this, at least not recently. Maybe when Yu cried over the death of his aunt, not quite understanding death quite yet, but still feeling the sadness of all of his family around him, or when Yosuke complained about his dad, kicking things around when he got particularly mad, when they were in middle school, but not much since then. 

Yu's hand was over his, and Yosuke turned his own over so that their fingers could interlock. 

Yosuke wished that the dream had lasted longer, but soon it was interrupted by his mother's call for him. 

"Yosuke!" She called. "Come downstairs! Narukami is here to see you." 

Yosuke jolted at that. He quickly tried to sort out his awful bedhead and scrambled down the stairs. 

"Hey, man!" Yosuke cheerfully greeted. 

"Would you like to stay for dinner, Narukami?" Yosuke's mom asked. 

"Yes, please." Yu smiled. He almost never smiled for no reason. He must've had a great day with Rise. Suddenly, Yosuke was in a sour mood again. He could've kicked himself for being so moody. 

"Well, you boys run off while I get it ready." She turned back to the kitchen. 

Yosuke lead Yu to his room. They usually spent most of their time at Yosuke's house since Yosuke had a bigger room and Yosuke's mom was always fond of the polite, quite Yu. Dojima definitely wasn’t as big a fan of Yosuke. 

As soon as the door was closed and the two were sat down on the carpeted floor, Yosuke asked the question burned on his mind. 

"Why are you here? Shouldn't you be with Rise?" 

"You weren't answering your phone, and I got worried." Yu explained. "Plus, my date with Rise ended an hour ago." 

It wasn't until then that Yosuke noticed how the sun was going down. He had probably been asleep for a few hours. 

"Sorry, I just took a nap." Yosuke didn't really want to look at his friend right now. He was still a little embarrassed over the contents of his dream. 

"Yosuke, what's up with you?" Yu asked. 

Hearing Yu's concern made Yosuke's heart twist like a wet rag. He shouldn't be ruining his friend's good day. 

"Nah, it's nothing." Yosuke smiled and waved his hand dismissively. "Y'know, sleep deprivation and all." 

"I know you're lying." You easily countered. He always did have a gift for reading Yosuke. 

"It's really not much. I've just been feeling nostalgic lately, thinking back on old memories." Yosuke wasn't completely lying. "Remember when I tried to make sunny side eggs at your house and almost broke your stove?" 

"You were trying so hard to impress me." Yu laughed, thinking back on it. "You thought since you had seen your mom do it that it wouldn’t be so hard." 

"Well, I was twelve," Yosuke smiled. "and twelve-year-olds think they can do anything." 

For a few minutes, they talked about their shared childhoods without incident. Yosuke thought about his words before he spoke for once in his life, to make sure something about his crush didn’t slip out. 

"Remember when the teacher sat me next to you when I first moved here?" Yosuke recounted. "She said that we would get along because we were both originally from the city. 

"Of course, I remember. I didn't think that kid with the awful haircut would be so special to me." 

Special. 

That's such a stupid word to get so hung up on, but still Yosuke felt his face heat up. He could hear Yu's dream voice echo through his head. 

"Yosuke, are you alright?" Yu asked. 

"Yeah, I'm just fine. Just... Yeah. Crazy how that happened, huh? Yeah." Yosuke tripped over his words. 

"What do I have to do?" Yu asked. After seeing the confusion on Yosuke's face, he rephrased. "What do I have to do for you to trust me with whatever's going on with you?" 

"Aw, man, you don't have to do anything." Yosuke plastered on his best carefree grin. "I don't want to bother you." 

Yosuke could see Yu's jaw tighten and his frown deepen in frustration. 

"It's stupid anyway." Yosuke explained. "Just a stupid crush, y'know?" He had said too much, but maybe he could brush it off. Maybe he could pretend he had a crush on Yukiko, as everyone at school did. 

"Who's your crush?" Yu asked. "I could help you out." 

"It's just an upperclassman. You probably don't know her." Yosuke waved his hand. 

"You're lying again, Yosuke." Yu stared at Yosuke so long that they were forced to make eye contact. "You were only upset after I went on my date with Rise." 

Yosuke felt his chest tighten up. He knew where this was going. This couldn't be anything good. He knew exactly what Yu was going to ask even before he asked it. 

"Do you have a crush on Rise or I? You can tell me if you do."


	2. Bad End

"Rise." Yosuke lied through his teeth. "I have a crush on Rise. I mean, how could I not? She's an idol and all..." 

Yu seemed a little surprised by Yosuke's answer, as if he was expecting Yosuke to tell him something else. Yosuke could feel his throat tighten up at the thought. 

"Well, um, I could try to set the two of you up." Yu suggested. 

"Wait, is she not already dating you?" Yosuke was surprised by Yu's suggestion. 

"No." Yu said. "You know how Rise is amazing at reading people? Well, she noticed something going on with you, and she suggested that we "figure out Yosuke's little problem" first." 

"Oh." Yosuke could've cried right there, sitting on his bedroom floor, across from his friend. 

"I'm sure dinner is almost ready, so I'll go wash my hands." Yu stood up and walked out of the room. 

Yosuke and Rise would go on a date later that month, but neither of them were really into it. Rise kept telling Yosuke to be honest with his feelings and that she knew he didn’t have a crush on her, but Yosuke wasn’t going to budge. 

Yosuke was stubborn after all. His choice was his own, he reckoned. He deserved it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, guys. Hope you enjoyed the angst.


	3. Good End

"Partner..." Yosuke looked at his socks. "Please don't make me say it." 

"C'mon, Yosuke. It's me." Yosuke could feel Yu smiling supportively at him, even though his head was down. "You can tell me." 

"It's you." Yosuke said quietly. "I have a crush on Yu Narukami, and it's so stupid, because you're dating Rise, an-" 

"Woah, who said I was dating Rise?" Yu cut him off. 

"Well, your date went well, and you both like each other, so... Y'know. I thought that you'd be kissing in a tree by now." Yosuke stuttered. 

"Rise thought something was wrong with you." Yu explained. "You know how good she is at reading people. I think she suspected your crush." 

Yosuke peaked his head up, just a bit. "So, what happened?" 

"She said I should march my ass over here and get my man." Yu smiled. "Her words, not mine." 

"God, we do not deserve Rise." Yosuke smiled wearily. 

"No, she's truly a godsend." Yu agreed. 

They sat there in silence for a few moments, until Yosuke just had to talk. 

"You're my best friend. I don't want to lose that." Yosuke sighed. "You don't have to like me back or anything." 

Yu took Yosuke's hand. 

"I like you too." Yu and Yosuke finally made eye contact. "You're special to me." 

Yosuke quickly rubbed his face with his free hand, as if it would get rid of the bright red face he was wearing. 

"You really like that word, don't you?" Yu laughed at the flustered boy. 

"Shut up." Yosuke hid a smile. "You're special to me too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! It's good to write some fluff every now and then.


End file.
